iPhone App Sherpa: A Pal For Your Bills

When evaluating a new iPhone (Stock Quote: AAPL) application one of the toughest questions to weigh is whether you’ll actually use it. Or will it just become another download hidden in the back pages?

Bill Pal is one of the apps you’ll actually use. Actually, it’s a lifesaver. Ponder this scenario: “Is the electric bill due on the first of the month? Or is it the 9th? Wait, no, that’s when the cable bill is due. Oh no, I think my student loan payments are late!”

Does it sound familiar? Even if you are the most savvy automatic online bill payer or the most hardcore old-fashioned “mail-em-when-you-get-em” type, there is still a good chance you’ll forget about that one little bill that’s due tomorrow. Bill Pal helps you avoid these situations by keeping track of balances and their due dates.

Just plug in your account information, and then view your payment history and schedule in a handy little calendar setup. There are quite a few applications on the market with this purpose, but what separates Bill Pal from the rest is its extremely simple user interface.

This app has all the bases covered including health care, automotive, insurance, cable, rent, etc. You can even note when you’ve paid bills in full or just part of them. Bill Pal also comes with some handy filters that allow you to sort through data to find past, present or future bills.

Security is a major concern when dealing with billing information, but Bill Pal seems pretty legit. The program is password protected and plenty of users have good things to say on the iPhone app store.

However, one complaint I came across in user forums for this app was the lack of “push” or syncing ability to backup information on your home computer or to sync with a spouse’s bill payments.

Bill Pal is currently having a sale claiming the application’s 99-cent price tag takes into account an 83% discount. After struggling to remember some simple grade-school math, I found it hard to believe this download was previously selling for $5.82. Seems a little high for an intro price on an undiscovered application.

However this new 99-cent price seems about right. No details are available on how long this 83% discount sale will go on, so I’d recommend scooping this baby up pronto.

Summary

Application: Bill Pal for iPhone/ iPod Touch

Cost: $0.99 (After an ongoing 83% discount sale)

Use: Allows users to keep track of and pay bills in a simple, elegant calendar style.